Skip to main content

star trek - Why is Counselor Troi in uniform in ST: TNG "Encounter at Farpoint"?


As you can see in the following image, everybody on the bridge wears a uniform, except Deanna Troi.


Troi wearing more casual clothing


But in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Encounter at Farpoint, we see Deanna Troi wearing a uniform.


Deanna Troi's mini-skirt uniform Memory Alpha for ST:TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint"? states:



This episode marks the last time that Counselor Troi is seen in a Starfleet uniform until TNG: "Chain of Command, Part I" with the exception of TNG: "Future Imperfect" where Troi as well as the entire events of that episode turn out to be an illusion.



Is there an in-universe explanation for this fact (dropping of uniform until season 6)?


Is there an out-of-universe explanation aside from "Fanservice"?




Answer



There is an out-of-universe explanation. I can't give you links on it, but during the summer between seasons 1 and 2 of Star Trek: The Next Generation, there was a convention in Richmond, VA. Now, I'm not a big convention-goer, but I have a rule: Whenever there's a Star Trek convention in my home town, I go. (So I've been to both conventions held in Richmond!)


David Gerrold was one of the honored guests and, at the time, he had left ST:TNG to start developing his own series (which, as best I known, never hit the screen). But he had worked on ST:TNG during the development of the series and into the first season.


One question focused on Marina Sirtis' acting skills and lines, especially in Encounter at Farpoint. Gerrold's response was, essentially, that they still weren't sure what to do with her and they weren't even completely sure she was going to be in the series. He commented that he didn't blame her for any difficulties with the pilot because they didn't know what to do with the character and she didn't even know if she was going to have a job or not. She knew the character was still not a sure thing.


The character of the Ship's Counselor first showed up in the original series bible for Star Trek: Phase II (not the episodes currently in production, but the planned 2nd Trek series in the 1970s). It's clearly something Roddenberry wanted in Trek, but since such a character was a new idea, they weren't sure how such a character would be used, if they could justify her presence on the ship, and if she fit in a dramatic function.


In Encounter at Farpoint, they were still experimenting with Troi, so her being in a uniform was not something they had thought about. She was on the crew, so she wore a uniform.


While he didn't give details about after that which would apply directly to this question, they needed to do something else with her. (Other than have her in pain whenever a new alien came around and saying, "I sense something...") And they also needed to emphasize her role as a counselor and not just an away team member. While I don't have proof for this, it seems that having her in more casual clothes (or perhaps a casual uniform, a little like fatigues or something) would de-emphasize her role as an officer and emphasize her role as a guide and counselor, including with the civilians on the ship.


As to why she later put the uniform on in Chain of Command, well the new Captain was rather a by-the-book person and insisted on it.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Did the gatekeeper and the keymaster get intimate in Ghostbusters?

According to TVTropes ( usual warning, don't follow the link or you'll waste half your life in a twisty maze of content ): In Ghostbusters, it's strongly implied that Dana Barret, while possessed by Zuul the Gatekeeper, had sex with Louis Tully, who was possessed by Vinz Clortho the Keymaster (key, gate, get it?), in order to free Big Bad Gozer. In fact, a deleted scene from the movie has Venkman explicitly asking Dana if she and Louis "did it". I turned the quote into a spoiler since it contains really poor-taste joke, but the gist of it is that it's implied that as part of freeing Gozer , the two characters possessed by the Keymaster and the Gatekeeper had sex. Is there any canon confirmation or denial of this theory (canon meaning something from creators' interviews, DVD commentary, script, delete scenes etc...)? Answer The Richard Mueller novelisation and both versions of the script strongly suggest that they didn't have sex (or at the very l...

Why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize Missy right away?

So after it was established that Missy is actually both the Master, and the "woman in the shop" who gave Clara the TARDIS number... ...why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize her right away? I remember the Tenth Doctor in The Sound of Drums stating that Timelords had a way of recognizing other Timelords no matter if they had regenerated. And Clara should have recognized her as well... I'm hoping for a better explanation than "Moffat screwed up", and that I actually missed something after two watchthroughs of the episode. Answer There seems to be a lot of in-canon uncertainty as to the extent to which Time Lords can recognise one another which far pre-dates Moffat's tenure. From the Time Lords page on Wikipedia : Whether or not Time Lords can recognise each other across regenerations is not made entirely clear: In The War Games, the War Chief recognises the Second Doctor despite his regeneration and it is implied that the Doctor knows him when they fir...

story identification - Animation: floating island, flying pests

At least 20 years ago I watched a short animated film which stuck in my mind. The whole thing was wordless, possibly European, and I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine it... It featured a flying island which was inhabited by some creatures who (in my memory) reminded me of the Moomins. The island was frequently bothered by large winged animals who swooped around, although I don't think they did any actual damage. At the end one of the moomin creatures suddenly gets a weird feeling, feels forced to climb to the top of the island and then plunges down a shaft right through the centre - only to emerge at the bottom as one of the flyers. Answer Skywhales from 1983. The story begins with a man warning the tribe of approaching skywhales. The drummers then warn everybody of the hunt as everyone get prepared to set "sail". Except one man is found in his home sleeping as the noise wake him up. He then gets ready and is about to take his weapon as he hesitates then decides ...

warhammer40k - What evidence supposedly supports Tau as related to the Necrontyr?

I've heard of rumours saying that the Tau from Warhammer 40K are in fact the Necrontyr. Is there anything that supports this statement, in WH40K canon? I just found this, on 1d4 chan 1 : Helping Necrons? Or are they Necrontyr descendants? An often overlooked issue is that Tau have no warp signatures, just like Necrons, hate Warpspawns and Warp in general, just like Necrons, have the exact same skull shape,stature and short lives, and the overwhelming need for Technology and beam weapons, JUST LIKE NECRONS. GW may have planned a race that simply prepares a pacified, multiracial galaxy for Necrons to feast upon, supported by Ethereals that have a C'tan phase blade. Then there is a reference of "dark seed in east" by the Deceiver, so the tricky C'tan might give Tzeentch the finger in the JUST AS PLANNED competition. Or maybe GW just has so little creativity that they simply made a new civ conforming to an Old One's standards without knowing it. Is this the connec...